Post-Game Talk: #54 Kings 3 at FLYERS 2 (SO), Thursday, Feb. 7, 7:00 pm ET

[Ghosts Beer]

So why are we getting outshot and out scoring chanced every game?
Since our current players are so great.
I mean Gordon may not be a rocket scientist, but these elite veterans should be able to execute even a simple scheme.

Without Hart and Stolarz playing lights out, we'd have a worse record than under Hakstol, something similar to Chicago under Q last year when Crawford got injured.

Or maybe our curent talent, as a group, just isn't as good as some people think?

It’s not. They didn’t (& still don’t) have nearly the depth that many fans asserted. That will improve as some of their younger skill players raise their levels of play & consistency. But the team right now has holes at a couple major positions.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

William Nylander's two full seasons in the NHL look exactly like Voracek's worst seasons. Nylander's making $6M/per and he hasn't even hit UFA yet.

Lucic carries a caphit of $6M & has 14 points this year. He’s a year older than Voracek & 4 years left on his deal opposed to Voracek’s 5 years after this one.

That’s an overpayment worthy of actually complaining about.

 

[Outlaw Samurai]

JVR was fined $5k for his highstick on Martinez.

5K! That's his daily hot dog allowance. Sheesh, the poor guy will fade away.

 

[Starat327]

So why are we getting outshot and out scoring chanced every game?
Since our current players are so great.
I mean Gordon may not be a rocket scientist, but these elite veterans should be able to execute even a simple scheme.

Without Hart and Stolarz playing lights out, we'd have a worse record than under Hakstol, something similar to Chicago under Q last year when Crawford got injured.

Or maybe our curent talent, as a group, just isn't as good as some people think?

I'm perfectly ok giving up 40 shots from the point, because they are such low quality shots that it barely matters. I'd have thought you'd be familiar with the concepti, since it's all your idol had us doing.

I think we've hit Bargaining, so it's good to see progress.

 

[deadhead]

We're giving up too many scoring chances and high danger scoring chances, and if you look at heat charts, those "point shots" are resulting in a lot of secondary shots around the net when we don't challenge opposing players in the slot and in front of the goalie.

Yes, it's a serious issue, being covered up by unsustainable goalie play (.950 is unsustainable, .930 is unsustainable unless Hart is HOF material).

 

[Starat327]

And just like that, back to denial.

We were working so hard.

 

[deadhead]

Anyone who thinks the current team is OK is in denial, when you look at the metrics during the last nine games, other than the Couts line, they are butt ugly - and you'd think during a win streak the team should look dominant. That's scary, because at some point the goalies will cool off and the makeup comes off and the warts are exposed.

A better coach will help next year, so will 2-3 big moves to go with adding a half dozen young players.

 

[Rebels57]

Phil Myers making his NHL debut tonight and no one is talking about it in the GDT?

 

[Starat327]

You keep operating under the assumption that everyone thinks this is a great team, and literally nobody has said that.

The entire argument has been that young players are getting chances that they never got under the previous Coach.

Also, it's still intriguing how you're willing to judge Gordon after 20 games but we're unwilling to do son on Hakstol. I wonder why that is.

 

[Rebels57]

Oh ok nevermind. FML.

 

[deadhead]

You keep operating under the assumption that everyone thinks this is a great team, and literally nobody has said that.

The entire argument has been that young players are getting chances that they never got under the previous Coach.

Also, it's still intriguing how you're willing to judge Gordon after 20 games but we're unwilling to do son on Hakstol. I wonder why that is.

What young players getting chances?

Sanheim yes, replaced Ghost with Provorov. Gets 5 more minutes a night against tougher competition in his 2nd season, this was inevitable, but he's also struggling in a bigger role, metrics are way down now that he's no longer sheltered.

Lindblom played less under Gordon in December than he was under Hakstol, who put him on the 2nd line last spring. He's playing more now, but that's normal with prospects who get out of funks.

Who else? Vorobyev? TK's minutes are down slightly.

 

[Starat327]

What young players getting chances?

Sanheim yes, replaced Ghost with Provorov. Gets 5 more minutes a night against tougher competition in his 2nd season, this was inevitable, but he's also struggling in a bigger role, metrics are way down now that he's no longer sheltered.

Lindblom played less under Gordon in December than he was under Hakstol, who put him on the 2nd line last spring. He's playing more now, but that's normal with prospects who get out of funks.

Who else? Vorobyev? TK's minutes are down slightly.

Sanheim could barely make the team under Hakstol but is playing top 4 minutes at worst. Maybe he's ''struggling' but at least he's getting an opportunity to play and learn. You know, that thing Hakstol was brought in to do.

You mention his minutes were down in December, but yet no mention of his minutes in January. Can't imagine why that is.

Laughton (you know, the guy you said was garbage last year) looks like one of the best players night in and night out.

Lehteras time was cut. Weise's time was cut. It doesn't matter who is filling those minutes because they are better players than those two.

Its baffling to me how you can't correlate better roster decisions leading to a better team, and better results. Yeah, sure maybe the goalies are playing better (let's not forget Elliott's 5v5 sv% was well above adequate when he played under Hakstol, and we were still getting obliterated, so let's not use that as a crutch, please).

The PK looks better. The PP is finally starting to look better. Use whatever stats you want, but the team is winning, and that's ultimately all that matters.

 

[deadhead]

Laughton looks like he looked last year, couldn't cut it at 3C, passable at 4C, solid at LW. Didn't need Gordon to find that out.

Sanheim was averaging 15-17 minutes, it's not like he went from bench to first pair.

Lindblom was playing as much last spring under Hakstol on the 2nd line as he's playing this year on the 2nd line, go figure.

Lehtera and Weise only played due to injuries (Knight, Rubtsov, etc) and Weal flopping. So far Vorobyev and Varone haven't been better players.

Hagg has his minutes reduced, so did Ghost, MacDonald is playing as much as he was under Hakstol.

I think you're engaged in wishful thinking, the only real change has been Hart and Stolarz replacing dreck in goal.
They're not scoring more, they're not playing better defense, the PK turned around before Gordon, and the PP simply went from an historically low rate of scoring relative to expected scoring to an unsustainable high rate.

The problem all along has been depth and how the talent fits together. And that hasn't fundamentally changed, and won't change until some more prospects arrive and Fletcher makes a couple moves to rebalance the lineup - and we'll have to wait for summer for most of these changes.

 

[Starat327]

Laughton looks like he looked last year, couldn't cut it at 3C, passable at 4C, solid at LW. Didn't need Gordon to find that out.

Sanheim was averaging 15-17 minutes, it's not like he went from bench to first pair.

Lindblom was playing as much last spring under Hakstol on the 2nd line as he's playing this year on the 2nd line, go figure.

Lehtera and Weise only played due to injuries (Knight, Rubtsov, etc) and Weal flopping. So far Vorobyev and Varone haven't been better players.

Hagg has his minutes reduced, so did Ghost, MacDonald is playing as much as he was under Hakstol.

I think you're engaged in wishful thinking, the only real change has been Hart and Stolarz replacing dreck in goal.
They're not scoring more, they're not playing better defense, the PK turned around before Gordon, and the PP simply went from an historically low rate of scoring relative to expected scoring to an unsustainable high rate.

The problem all along has been depth and how the talent fits together. And that hasn't fundamentally changed, and won't change until some more prospects arrive and Fletcher makes a couple moves to rebalance the lineup - and we'll have to wait for summer for most of these changes.

No, Laughton looks much better than last year. Your dislike of the player is well documented, it's fine. No need to waste time here.

You saying Lindblom is playing second line like he was last year is funny, as though it wasn't Hakstol who took him off the second line to begin with.

Weise's and lehtera were playing regular minutes under Hakstol. More intentional blindness. I need more strings for my diagram.

I never had a problem with Hagg on the team as long as his minutes were reduced and he wasn't being relied on as a top 4, as he was under Hakstol. He looks much better playing minutes more in line with his skillset as opposed to something he's not - a top 4. Which, as you may recall, was the original point - players being played well above their skillset and in favor of players better suited.

They don't need to score more. I don't need a high offensive team to be entertained. What I need is a team that actually shows progress and can win games. Dig in when it counts and fight. That didn't happen under Hak, and it is now.

 

[deadhead]

It's all the goalies, any team can win if the goalies put up a .930+ save percentage - look at the Islanders!
Outside of goalie play, there is no significant difference between Hakstol's Flyers and Gordon's Flyers.
Don't think so? Go look at the team metrics under each coach. Corsi, scoring chances, etc.
And yes, when goalies play great, the rest of the team plays more relaxed because every mistake doesn't end up in your own net.

 

[Starat327]

Know what else the Islanders got?

A good coach. I think we're done here.

 

[Starat327]

Not sure if this got posted or not but: